Sunday, April 19, 2020

TODAY IN HISTORY APRIL 19
Warsaw remembers World War II ghetto uprising with low-key events
AFP / JANEK SKARZYNSKI
Zygmunt Stepinski, head of the Polin Museum of the History of Polish Jews, lays a wreath to mark the 77th anniversary of the doomed rebellion by Jewish partisans against Nazi Germany, in front of the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising memorial anniversary

Poland commemorated the 1943 Warsaw Ghetto uprising on Sunday, replacing its annual official ceremonies with low-key gatherings on site or online as the coronavirus pandemic prevented any big events.

Wearing a protective mask, Poland's chief rabbi Michael Schudrich recited a prayer at the monument dedicated to the uprising in front of a few dozen people who observed social distancing rules before laying a wreath.

April 19 commemorates the day in 1943 when Jewish insurgents began a violent resistance against police and SS auxiliary troops who planned to deport the Jews in the ghetto to concentration camps.

Their revolt, which the insurgents knew was doomed but allowed them to die fighting rather than in gas chambers, bogged down the German advance into the ghetto by several weeks.
The main part of the revolt lasted 10 days but it was only definitively ended almost a month later on May 16 when the Nazis demolished the Great Synangogue of Warsaw.

An estimated 13,000 Jews were killed in the ghetto during the uprising. It was the largest single act of Jewish resistance against Nazi Germany.

On Sunday sirens went off in Warsaw at midday, like every year, honouring the rebellion.

In the streets, there was no distribution of daffodils which Warsaw residents usually pin to their clothes to mark the day, and which ressemble the yellow badges Jews were ordered to wear by Nazi Germany.

Instead, the Polin Musem of the History of Polish Jews published a template online inviting Poles to use it to make their own yellow flowers out of cardboard and post their picture wearing it on social networks -- a call that was widely followed.

The museum is also planning to re-broadcast online conferences, documentaries, ceremonies and artistic events linked to the anniversary.


On This Day:APRIL 18
 Ireland formally declares independence
On April 18, 1949, the Republic of Ireland formally declared itself independent from Britain.
By UPI Staff

On April 18, 1949, the Republic of Ireland formally declared itself independent from Britain. Photo by John Angelillo/UPI | License Photo

April 18 (UPI) -- On this date in history:

In 1506, the cornerstone was placed for St. Peter's Basilica in Rome.

In 1775, U.S. patriot Paul Revere began his famous ride through the Massachusetts countryside, crying out "The British are coming!" to rally the minutemen.

In 1906, an earthquake estimated at magnitude-7.8 struck San Francisco, collapsing buildings and igniting fires that destroyed much of what remained of the city. Researchers and historians concluded that about 3,000 people died in the quake and its aftermath, and roughly 250,000 were left homeless.

In 1912, three days after the sinking of Titanic, her survivors arrived in New York City aboard the RMS Carpathia.

In 1923, Yankee Stadium opened in New York.

In 1942, Lt. Col. James Doolittle led a squadron of B-25 bombers in a surprise raid against Tokyo in response to the Japanese sneak attack on Pearl Harbor on Dec. 7, 1941.

In 1945, U.S. journalist Ernie Pyle, a popular World War II correspondent, was killed by Japanese machine-gun fire on the island of Ie Shima in the Pacific.

In 1949, the Republic of Ireland formally declared itself independent from Britain.

In 1968, McCulloch Oil Corp. paid $2.24 million to buy London Bridge, which was sinking into the Thames under the weight of 20th century traffic. The oil company rebuilt the bridge bloc by block over Lake Havasu in Arizona.

In 1980, Rhodesia became the independent African nation of Zimbabwe.

In 1983, the U.S. Embassy in Beirut, Lebanon, was severely damaged by a car-bomb explosion that killed 63 people, including 17 Americans.

In 1992, an 11-year-old Florida boy sued to "divorce" his natural parents and remain with his foster parents. The boy eventually won his lawsuit.

In 2002, former U.S. Sen. Bob Kerrey, D-Neb., revealed that at least 13 civilians were killed by his U.S. Navy unit in a Vietnamese village in 1969.



File Photo by Ezio Petersen/UPI

In 2007, more than 125 people were killed in a suicide car-bomb explosion near a Baghdad market.

In 2014, an avalanche on what is known as a particularly dangerous route to the top of Mount Everest in the Himalayas killed 16 Sherpa guides.

In 2018, the first movie theaters in Saudi Arabia opened with a public screening of Black Panther.

In 2019, Northern Irish journalist Lyra McKee was shot to death while covering riots in Belfast. The New IRA claimed responsibility.



File Photo by Jess Lowe/EPA-EFE




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